First rumored here in the comments, just confirmed through my sources, and now officially announced on MiLB.com — Cameron Selik is coming to Potomac.

As the headline says, this is one of several moves that were made today…

• OF Eury Perez was activated from the disabled list

• OF J.R. Higley was returned to Extended Spring Training (XST)

• RHP Dean Weaver was assigned from XST

• LHP Ryan Demmin was sent to XST

Selik last pitched for Hagerstown on Saturday. With Hagerstown traveling today from Georgia to Maryland, and Potomac headed to Kinston tomorrow night, he’s most likely going to make his first High-A start this weekend in North Carolina. So far, there has been no corresponding move to backfill Selik, but if/when that information comes to light, we’ll update this post.

UPDATE: Jeremy Mayo was activated and played last night with Brian Peacock placed on the DL. Cameron Selik was tracking pitches in Woodbridge so it’s apparent that these moves were made much earlier than announced, particularly as Mayo had been spotted in the bullpen earlier this series (though it’s not unusual for inactive guys to stay with the team).

At the time that I went to see them, the Vermont Lake Monsters were 7-3 and in the second game of an eight-game win streak that saw them roll up an 18-5 record before they would lose consecutive games. After losing those two games, they ripped off three more wins to go to 21-7. They would not win two games in a row again until the final two games of the year, going 15-31 the rest of the way to finish at 36-38 and two games behind the eventual league champion Tri-City Valley Cats (coincidentally, the team I had visited the night before on my drive up).

Q: What the hell happened?A: The pitching took a nosedive.

The top four starters had a combined ERA of 4.75, which is nearly a run higher than the league average of 3.80. The good news is that just one of those starters was a 2010 draftee; the rest of the 2010 draftees were relievers. The bad news is that two of the other three starters were from the 2009 draft.

As you might have already deduced (or guessed, Skipper), the hitting was in the top quartile of the league. As we’ve done the two reviews prior, let’s take a look at how Vermont compared to the rest of the league…

HITTING

TEAM

AB

R

H

HR

BB

SO

AVG

OBP

SLG

GPA

SB

Vermont

2430

365

597

34

340

591

.246

.347

.353

.244

58

Lg. Avg.

2488

334

620

36

254

571

.249

.326

.362

.237

68

Bold = League Leader

PITCHING

TEAM

IP

ERA

R/G

WHIP

HR

BB

SO

H/9IP

BB/9IP

K/9IP

K/BB

Vermont

649.0

4.47

5.07

1.408

43

266

587

9.0

3.7

8.1

2.21

Lg. Avg.

657.2

3.80

4.49

1.329

36

254

571

8.5

3.5

7.8

2.25

As it was with the GCL, there is some hope in the strength of team’s hitting. Leading the league in walks drawn is something that should not be taken lightly, especially for college bats adjusting to the wood-bat game. Those eighty or so “extra” baserunners helped offset league-average hitting and power, enabling the Lake Monsters to score 31 more runs than the league average.

Likewise, there is also some hope in the relievers that helped offset the poor starting pitching, as four relievers posted sub-3.00 ERAs while throwing more than 20 innings. Not surprisingly, three of those four piled up Ks at a rate of 10.2/9IP or more.

As before, I’m listing the Top 12 hitters and pitchers in terms of plate appearances and innings pitched and using defensive games played for the listing of position. The full statistics for the team can be found here.

Name

Age

Position(s)

G @ Pos

Fld%

Err

PA

GPA

Jason Martinson

21

SS

68

.944

17

306

.242

Ronnie Labrie

23

1B

67

.990

6

280

.276

Chad Mozingo

21

CF/LF

42/17

.975

3

278

.239

Blake Kelso

21

3B/2B/SS

30/27/3

.949

10

274

.256

David Freitas

21

C

35

.994

2

261

.296

Wade Moore

22

RF/LF

57/3

.969

4

258

.275

Hendry Jimenez*

20

2B

45

.973

6

206

.201

Russell Moldenhauer

22

DH

1 @ 1B

1.000

0

162

.295

Kevin Keyes

21

LF/RF

35/3

.895

6

160

.214

Justin Miller

21

IF/OF

17/19

.902

8

155

.248

Connor Rowe

21

CF/RF/LF

11/21/7

.955

3

140

.195

Cole Leonida

21

C

31

.988

3

120

.154

Bold = 2010 Draftee Italics = 2009 Draftee * = DSL Graduate

Obviously, the thing that jumps out is the usage of Russell Moldenhauer, the team leader in slugging percentage. With two catchers to evaluate (Freitas and Leonida), it was clear that when one would catch, the other would DH or sit, which begs the question: Why weren’t Labrie and Moldenhauer rotating at first base? The most logical deduction is that Moldenhauer is a terrible fielder, given that Moldenahauer did not play defensively at all for University of Texas this year and only played enough to register 53 putouts in the three seasons prior to 2010.

Seven of these twelve hitters were sent to the Florida Instructional League; a good sign that they’ll be in Hagerstown in 2011 and perhaps one may even jump to Potomac (best guess: David Freitas). Folks in Hagerstown should have another decent season in terms of offense, especially as the GCL standouts are mixed in with this bunch.

On to the pitchers, and should you be reading this past 5 p.m., this might be the time to pour yourself a cold adult beverage…

PLAYER

AGE

G/GS

W-L, SV

ERA

IP

H

BB

SO

WHIP

HBP

WP

Matt Swynenberg

21

14/12

5-2, 0

4.60

62⅔

65

17

43

1.309

6

2

Taylor Jordan

21

13/13

2-3, 0

4.94

62

73

17

54

1.452

5

3

Bobby Hansen

20

13/12

3-2, 0

4.79

56⅓

72

19

51

1.615

7

7

Chad Jenkins

20

15/12

2-7, 0

4.67

54

40

34

52

1.370

13

3

Colin Bates

22

15/5

3-3, 2

5.40

48⅓

55

8

45

1.303

6

2

Wilson Eusebio*

21

16/0

2-1, 0

4.26

44⅓

44

26

32

1.579

3

11

Neil Holland

21

19/0

3-1, 3

2.20

32⅔

25

9

37

1.041

2

2

Ryan Demmin

22

14/1

2-1, 2

1.45

31

25

10

32

1.129

1

0

Dustin Crane

23

19/0

2-2, 2

4.60

29⅓

23

18

20

1.398

1

10

Cameron Selik

22

15/0

1-0, 1

2.54

28⅓

22

13

32

1.235

2

2

Christopher McKenzie

20

8/6

1-2, 0

8.54

26⅓

40

12

22

1.975

1

2

Mark Herrera

21

14/0

2-1, 1

2.88

25

20

8

31

1.120

2

4

Digging deeper into the usage, it would appear that the m.o. was to use last year’s college guys to start, and this year’s guys to relieve. The three ’09 draftees each started last season in the GCL. Two (Jenkins and Swynenburg) were sent up to Vermont and did not respond well to the challenge and thus, they repeated. Therefore, we may have some tea leaves to read in terms of guessing who’ll be in Auburn next summer and who won’t.

OBLIGATORY TOP FIVE LISTS
Finally, I can say I saw some of these guys (OK, maybe it was just once, but I can still say it). So here goes with the five bats and five arms to watch in 2011: